Floating Lock Device

ABSTRACT

To provide a floating lock device which can smoothly and continuously perform an operation of swinging-in and swinging-out a drive unit and switching between a floating state and lock state with a reduced space and simple configuration. The floating lock device comprises: a pick arm  130  which can be swung into and swung out of a space created by splitting trays  250  capable of housing a plurality of disks D; a drive chassis  120  which is mounted on the pick arm  130  and which has a drive unit playing the disk D; a drive mechanism which drives the pick arm  130;  a floating lock mechanism of the drive chassis  120;  a turning table  123  on which the disk D is mounted; and a control plate  136  which transmits drive power of the drive mechanism to the floating lock mechanism.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a disk device, which brings a driveunit to a floating state for elastically supporting the drive unit forplaying a disk, and improves resistance to vibration. Particularly, thepresent invention relates to the improvement of a floating lock device,which is applied to the drive unit swung and inserted into a space whichis created by splitting disk holders housing a plurality of diskstherein.

BACKGROUND ART

Conventionally, there has been widely used a disk device which isinstalled with a magazine for housing disks and in which a disk takenout from the magazine is automatically played. Such a disk device isexcellent in operability since the disks do not have to be inserted orejected one by one every time when playing the disk.

However, it is required that the magazine attached or detached withrespect to the device be strong enough to protect a plurality of disksheld therein when taking out the magazine to the outside. Therefore, thewalls of the magazine main body are thick, and as a result the sizes ofthe magazine itself and the entire device for installing the magazineare large. Moreover, in order to take out a tray or the like holding thedisks inside the magazine, a guiding groove and a rail section areprovided on an inner face of a side wall of the magazine. By formingsuch a groove and rail section, the thickness of the magazine side wallfurther increases and the gap between each adjacent disk holder becomeswide, whereby the height of the magazine increases and the size of thedevice for installing the magazine also increases.

In addition, in order to take out a disk housed in the magazine and playthe disk, it is necessary to provide a sufficient space in the device,thus the size of the device increases. Particularly, as in an on-boarddisk device or the like, in the case where a disk needs to be housed ina size of 180×50 (mm), which is called “DIN size”, or a size of 180×100(mm), which is called “double DIN size”, small-size disk devices arehighly demanded.

In order to deal with such demand, a disk device is developed in which amagazine is split, and a drive unit for playing a disk is provided in aspace formed by splitting the magazine, so that the disk can be playedwithout taking out the disk from the magazine (see Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. H11-232753, Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. H11-306637). Such disk device does not require a space fortaking out and play a disk, thus the size of the entire device can bemade small.

Furthermore, there is proposed a disk device, in which a detachablemagazine is not used but disk holders capable of housing a plurality ofdisks therein are previously incorporated in the device in a stackedfashion, a disk inserted from a disk insertion opening is automaticallyhoused in the disk holder, and the housed disk can be automaticallyejected. In such a disk device, an opening, a mechanism and the likecoping with the thickness of the magazine or attachment of the magazineare not required, thus a small-size device can be realized.Particularly, in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 2000-195134, disk holders are provided vertically so thatthey can be split as with the abovementioned split magazine, and a driveunit is inserted into the split disk holders, whereby a disk can beplayed without taking it out. Accordingly, further reduction in size ofthe device can be achieved.

Incidentally, in such an on-board disk device, there is provided afloating lock mechanism for switching between a floating state and alock state of a drive unit. This mechanism brings the drive unit to afloating state for supporting the entire chassis of the disk device bymeans of only an elastic member such as a damper when playing a disk, sothat vibration is not transmitted from the outside to the drive unit,and brings the drive unit to a lock state for fixing the chassis to thevehicle body when inserting/ejecting a disk and installing the disk on aturning table, so that the disk can be positioned accurately.

However, such a floating lock mechanism needs to perform dampersupporting or locking for the entire chassis, thus the size of themechanism increases, and it is difficult to synchronize an operation ofmoving the drive unit and an operation of installing a disk on theturning table. In order to cope with this problem, as described inJapanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-232753, there is provideda floating lock mechanism which elastically supports only the drive uniton the drive chassis by means of the damper, and is operated so as tofollow rotation of the drive chassis, whereby the drive chassis can bepulled into the disk holder and thereafter the drive unit can be broughtinto the floating state. However, the damper is disposed in a narrowspace, thus it is not always easy to absorb vibration sufficiently.

Furthermore, such a conventional technology has a structure in whichonly a disk holding member, which holds a desired disk therein, ispressure-bonded to the turning table, and an inner edge of the disk isheld by a member provided on the turning table, thus it is not alwayseasy to stably hold the disk rotating on the turning table. Therefore,it is considered to provide the drive unit, which is swung and inserted,with a disk clamping mechanism for holding a disk between the diskclamping mechanism and the turning table, to stabilize the operation ofholding the disk. However, in addition to a mechanism for swinging intoand swinging out the drive unit, it is necessary to provide a floatinglock mechanism and a disk clamping mechanism, but the configuration ofthe device may be complicated and enlarged.

Moreover, it is necessary to provide a mechanism for synchronizing anoperation of swinging-in and swinging-out the drive unit, operations ofpressure-bonding a disk to the turning table and releasing the disk fromthe turning table, and operations of performing floating lock and lockcancellation. However, it is difficult to additionally provide acomponent to be swung into a narrow space, such as a drive chassis, witha mechanism for synchronizing an operation of moving the drive unit andan operation of performing floating lock.

In addition, in the case of providing split housing sections with astructure for rotatably swinging and inserting a member installed with adrive unit, the member needs to be swung and inserted at an accurateheight, thus it is essential to achieve facilitation and stabilizationof rotation. In order to cope with such problem, it is considered toemploy a structure for allowing the member installed with the drive unitto rotate around a long axis provided vertically in the disk device. Insuch a case, however, the size of the supporting structure of therotational axis section increases easily, and a required space foravoiding an interference with other member also increases.

The present invention is, therefore, contrived in order to resolve theabove problems of the conventional technology, and an object of thepresent invention is to provide a floating lock device which cansmoothly and continuously perform an operation of swinging-in andswinging-out a drive unit and switching among a disk clamping mechanism,floating state, and lock state with a reduced space and simpleconfiguration.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the abovementioned object, the present invention isa floating lock device, comprising: a swing arm which can be swung intoand swung out of a space created by splitting disk housing sectionscapable of housing a plurality of disks; a drive chassis which ismounted on the swing arm and which comprises a drive playing the disk;and a floating lock mechanism which is provided on the swing arm andswitches between a floating state in which the drive chassis issupported by an elastic member only, and a lock state in which the drivechassis is fixed to the swing arm, wherein the disk device furthercomprises a drive mechanism which drives the swing arm, and wherein theswing arm is provided with a transmitting member which transmits drivepower of the drive mechanism to the floating lock mechanism so as tocontinuously perform shifting from an operation of swinging-in the swingarm to one operation of the floating lock mechanism or from an operationof swinging-out the swing arm to the other operation of the floatinglock mechanism.

In the present invention described above, shifting from an operation ofswinging of the swing arm by the drive mechanism, to an operation oflock cancellation of the floating lock mechanism, and shifting in theopposite pattern can be continuously carried out by the transmittingmember.

In another embodiment, the drive mechanism has an auxiliary arm whichrotates and thereby biases the swing arm in a swing-in direction and aswing-out direction, the transmitting member is provided rotatably bybeing biased by an end section of the auxiliary arm, and the swing armis provided with a connecting cam which causes the auxiliary arm to biasthe transmitting member during a period between time after the swing armis swung-in and time before the swing arm is swung out.

In the abovementioned embodiment, shifting from an operation of swingingof the swing arm, to an operation of lock cancellation of the drivechassis, and shifting from an operation of the lock of the drive chassisto an operation of swinging out the swing arm can be carried outsmoothly by the connecting cam between the auxiliary arm and thetransmitting member.

In another embodiment, the floating lock mechanism has a pair offloating lock plates which are provided so as to be able to slidinglymove between a lock position for engaging with the drive chassis and afloating position for separating from the drive chassis, in accordancewith displacement of the transmitting member, the pair of floating lockplates being provided so as to be able to slidingly move in directionsopposite to each other by means of a link arm provided rotatably on theswing arm.

In the abovementioned embodiment, either one of the pair of floatinglock plates is biased and slidingly moved by the transmitting member,whereby the other slidingly moves automatically, thus the transmittingmember can be simplified.

In another embodiment, the swing arm is provided with a biasing memberwhich biases at least one of the pair of floating lock plates to thelock position.

In the abovementioned embodiment, the floating lock plate is biased tothe lock position by the biasing member, thus the floating lock plate isprevented from being unstable at the time of locking.

In another embodiment, the drive unit has a turning table on which adisk is mounted, and a disk clamping mechanism which holds the diskbetween the disk clamp mechanism and the turning table, and the swingarm is provided with a transmitting member which transmits drive powerof the drive mechanism to the disk clamping mechanism so as tocontinuously perform shifting from an operation of swinging-in the swingarm to one operation of the disk clamping mechanism or from an operationof swinging-out the swing arm to the other operation of the diskclamping mechanism.

In the abovementioned embodiment, shifting from an operation of swingingof the swing arm by the drive mechanism, to an operation of lockcancellation of disk clamping and the floating lock mechanism performedby the disk clamping mechanism, and shifting in the opposite pattern canbe continuously carried out by the transmitting member.

In another embodiment, the drive mechanism has an auxiliary arm whichrotates and thereby biases the swing arm in a swing-in direction and aswing-out direction, and the transmitting member is provided rotatablyby being biased by an end section of the auxiliary arm.

In the abovementioned embodiment, the transmitting member, which isrotated by the auxiliary arm, operates the disk clamping mechanism andthe floating lock mechanism, thus the continuous operation can berealized with a small space required.

In another embodiment, the floating lock mechanism has a floating lockplate which is provided so as to be able to slidingly move between alock position for reducing the height of the elastic member by biasingthe drive chassis to the swing arm side, and a floating position forrecovering the height of the elastic member by canceling the bias on thedrive chassis, in accordance with displacement of the transmittingmember.

In the abovementioned embodiment, switching between the lock state andthe floating state can be performed by means of a simple configurationin which the transmitting member slidingly moves the floating lockplate.

In another embodiment, the disk clamping mechanism comprises: a damperwhich holds a disk between the damper and the turning table; a clamp armto which the damper is attached and which is provided so as to be ableto move up and down; and a clamp plate which is provided so as to beslidingly moved by the transmitting member and, in accordance with thesliding movement, biases the clamp arm in a direction of moving theclamp arm up and down.

In the abovementioned embodiment, switching between the disk clampingstate and the disk releasing state can be performed by means of a simpleconfiguration in which the transmitting member slidingly moves the clampplate.

In another embodiment, in a disk device provided in a chassis, thechassis is provided with a holding section which holds an end section ofthe swing arm which is swung-in.

In the abovementioned embodiment, the holding section inside the chassisholds an end section of the swing arm which is swung into the diskhousing section, thus the disk device having high resistance tovibration can be obtained. Therefore, a disk device suitable for, forexample, a non-board disk device can be configured.

In another embodiment, the elastic member comprises a combination of adamper and a coil spring, and at least three locations on the drivechassis are supported on the swing arm by the elastic member.

In the abovementioned embodiment, at least three points on the driveunit are supported by the double structure having a combination of adamper and a coil spring, thus high vibration absorbency can be obtainedeven if the space is narrow.

In another embodiment, the elastic member on at least one location isdisposed on a position which is farther away from the drive unit thanother elastic members.

In the abovementioned embodiment, the elastic member on at least onelocation is positioned away from the drive unit, thus a stable supportcan be realized even if the space is narrow.

In another embodiment, the coil spring is in the form of a barrel.

In the abovementioned embodiment, since the coil spring is in the formof a barrel, the coil spring can be stretched widely in not only thevertical direction but also in the horizontal direction, thus thevibration absorbency further improves.

In another embodiment, the floating lock device further comprises: asupporting body which supports the swing arm rotatably around an axis;and biasing means for biasing the swing arm to the supporting body inthe vicinity of the axis, wherein a spacer for facilitating rotation ofthe swing arm is sandwiched between the swing arm and the supportingbody in the vicinity of the axis.

In the abovementioned embodiment, in the vicinity of the axis of theswing arm, there are provided a spacer for facilitating rotation of theswing arm and biasing means for biasing the swing arm to the supportingbody side, whereby a stable rotation with no blurring can be realizedwithout requiring a long axis, thus a floating lock device with areduced-size and simple structure requiring a small space can beobtained.

In another embodiment, the biasing means is a circular plate spring.

In the abovementioned embodiment, pressure for biasing the swing arm tothe supporting body can be made even by the circular plate spring, thusmore stable rotation can be realized.

In another embodiment, the drive mechanism is provided on the supportingbody so as to be able to rotate in parallel with the swing arm, and hasan auxiliary arm which biases the swing arm in a swing-in direction anda swing-out direction in accordance with rotation of the drivemechanism.

In the abovementioned embodiment, the swing arm can be driven by theauxiliary arm rotating in parallel with the swing arm, thus the rotationcan be further stabilized, and the space in the height direction can beprevented from being enlarged.

According to the description above, the present invention can provide afloating lock device which can smoothly and continuously perform anoperation of swinging-in and swinging-out a drive unit and switchingamong a disk clamping mechanism, floating state, and lock state with areduced space and simple configuration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the disk device of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which a disk shown in FIG. 1 ishoused;

FIG. 3 is a back view showing the chassis and a shift plate of the diskdevice shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a right side view showing the chassis and the shift plate ofthe disk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front view showing the chassis and the shift plate of thedisk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a pick arm of the disk device shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a state in which the pick arm shown inFIG. 27 is swung;

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a state in which floating lock of the pickarm shown in FIG. 27 is canceled;

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a state in which the pick arm is attachedto the pick chassis of the disk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a side view of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11A is a plan view showing a spacer shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11B is a side view showing the spacer shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 12A is a side view showing a plate spring shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 12B is a plan view showing the plate spring shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 13A is a plan view showing a state in which a disk is opened by adisk clamping mechanism of the disk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 13B is a side view showing a state in which the disk is opened bythe disk clamping mechanism of the disk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 13C is a side view showing a state in which the disk is inserted bythe disk clamping mechanism of the disk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 14A is a plan view showing a state in which the disk clampingmechanism of the disk device shown in FIG. 1 performs disk clamping;

FIG. 14B is a side view showing a state in which the disk clampingmechanism of the disk device shown in FIG. 1 performs disk clamping;

FIG. 15 is a plan view showing a state in which the disk clampingmechanism of the disk device shown in FIG. 1 completes disk clamping;

FIG. 16A is a front view of a locked state showing an elastic supportingstructure of a drive unit for the pick arm of the disk device shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 16B is a front view of a lock cancellation state showing theelastic supporting structure of the drive unit for the pick arm of thedisk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 17A is a plan view showing a clamp arm of the disk device shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 17B is a side view showing the clamp arm of the disk device shownin FIG. 1;

FIG. 17C is a rear side view showing the clamp arm of the disk deviceshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 18A is a side view showing a biasing plate of the disk device shownin FIG. 1;

FIG. 18B is a front view showing the biasing plate of the disk deviceshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 19A is a plan view showing a locked state of a floating lockmechanism of the disk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 19B is a plan view showing a lock cancellation state of thefloating lock mechanism of the disk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 20A is a side view showing the locked state shown in FIG. 20;

FIG. 20B is a side view showing the lock cancellation state;

FIG. 21 is a plan view showing a drive mechanism of the disk deviceshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 22 is a left side view showing the chassis and a slide plate of thedisk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 23A is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a diskstarts to be inserted in the disk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 23B is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the disk ispulled out in the disk device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 24A is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a clamper ofthe disk device shown in FIG. 1 is swung; and

FIG. 24B is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the disk isclamped in the disk device shown in FIG. 1.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment (“present embodiment”, hereinafter) of anon-board disk device to which the present invention is applied isdescribed in detail with reference to the drawings. It should be notedthat, in the following descriptions of the drawings, the front face sideof the disk device is the head side, the back face side of same is therear side, and the vertical and longitudinal directions correspond tothe directions viewed from the front face side of the disk device.

[A. Entire Configuration]

The present embodiment has the following schematic configurations asshown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2:

(1) A pick chassis 110, in which a number of trays 250 holding disks Dare stacked.

(2) A pick arm 130 which is provided on the pick chassis 110 and swungto be inserted between split trays 250 (corresponding to the swing armdescribed in the claims).

(3) A drive chassis 120 which is provided on the pick arm 130 andcomprises a drive unit (including a turning table 123 and the like)playing the disk D.

(4) A floating lock mechanism which is provided on the pick arm 130 andperforms floating lock of the drive chassis 120 (including floating lockplates 132, 133, and the like (FIG. 6)).

(5) A disk clamping mechanism which installs a disk D onto the turningtable 123 (including a clamp arm 124, a clamper 125 and the like).

(6) A drive mechanism which drives the pick arm 130 (including a pickswing cam plate 138 and the like).

It should be noted that the transmitting member described in the claimscorresponds to a control plate 136 and the auxiliary arm corresponds tothe pick swing arm 131. The control plate 136 rotates along withrotation of the pick swing arm 131, and drives the disk clampingmechanism and the floating block mechanism, thus an explanation thereofis provided an explanation of each part.

[B. Configuration of Each Part]

[1. Pick Chassis (FIGS. 1 Through 5)]

The pick chassis 110 is provided so as to be able to move up and down inthe chassis 101, and is formed with a substantially fan-shaped gap so asnot to interfere with the disk D and the trays 250 by moving up anddown. The front and rear faces and the right and left side faces of thepick chassis 110 are bent at a right angle from the bottom face thereofalong the inner side faces of the chassis 101. The rear face (FIG. 3),right side face (FIG. 4) and front face (FIG. 5) of the pick chassis 110are calked by pick elevating pins 110-1, 2, 3 respectively.

These pick elevating pins 110-1, 2, 3 are engaged with vertical pickguide grooves 101-1, 101-4, 5 formed in the cassis 101. The pickelevating pins 110-1, 2, 3 are engaged with pick elevating cams 108-4,107-2,106-2, which are step-like grooves or holes formed respectively ona shift plate 108, shift plate 107, and a shift plate 106 providedslidably on side faces of the chassis 101. Therefore, by synchronoussliding movement of the shift plates 108, 107 and 106, the pick chassis110 moves up and down.

[2. Pick Arm (FIGS. 1, 2, 6 Through 12)]

The pick arm 130 is attached to an upper part of the left bottom face ofthe pick chassis 110 so as to be able to rotate freely around an axis130-1 as a spindle. As shown in FIGS. 9 through 11, in this axis 130-1,a pick arm spacer 221 for facilitating rotation of the pick arm 130 isheld between the pick arm 130 and the upper part of the bottom face ofthe pick chassis 110. Further, as shown in FIGS. 9, 10, 12, a disk-likeplate spring 116 for pushing the pick arm 130 against the pick chassis110 via the axis 130-1 is attached to the reverse face of the pickchassis 110.

Furthermore, on the pick arm 130, there is formed a connecting cam 130-2into which a two-stage roller 131-3 of the pick swing arm 131 isinserted, the two-stage roller 131-3 being described hereinafter. Thisconnecting cam 130-2 has an inclined section for rotating the pick arm130 and an arc section for rotating a control plate 136 which isdescribed hereinafter.

A leading end of the pick arm 130 (opposite end from the axis 130-1) isprovided with a hook 130-5. This hook 130-5 is a section held on therear face side of the pick chassis 110 when the pick arm 130 is swung.Specifically, a holding section 129, which is a pair of plates in thehorizontal direction, is fixed on a right rear corner of the pickchassis 110, and the hook 130-5 is held so as to be sandwiched betweenthese plates. Moreover, as described hereinafter, the pick arm 130 isprovided with a drive chassis 120 having a drive unit including a pickup, turning table and the like, and a clamp arm 124 having a damper 125and the like.

[3. Pick Swing Arm (FIGS. 1, 2, 6 Through 8)]

As shown in FIGS. 2, 7, 8, the pick swing arm 131 is disposed betweenthe pick arm 130 and the pick chassis 110 and attached to the pickchassis 110 so as to be rotatable around an axis 131-1 engaged with ahole of the pick chassis 110. A roller 131-2 is rotatably attached to aleft reverse face of the axis 131-1 of the pick swing arm 131. Thisroller 131-2 is inserted into a cam groove 138-1 of a pick swing camplate 138, which is described hereinafter. The two-stage roller 131-3 isattached rotatably to a leading end section of the pick swing arm 131.This two-stage roller 131-3 is inserted into the connecting cam 130-2provided on the pick arm 130.

[4. Pick Swing Cam Plate (FIGS. 1, 2, 6 Through 8)]

As shown in FIGS. 6 through 8, the pick swing cam plate 138 is attachedto the reverse face of the pick chassis 110 so as to be able toslidingly move back and forth. In this pick swing cam plate 138, asshown in FIG. 8, a left end section thereof is bent upward, and alifting section 138-2, which is bent inwardly to form a step, is formedabove the bent left end section. This lifting section 138-2, as shown inFIG. 1, lifts up a lifted section 124-6 of the clamp arm 124 from thebottom and thereby secures a clearance for inserting the disk D.

The roller 131-2 of the pick swing arm 131 is inserted into the swingingcam 138-1, which is a groove or a hole formed on the bottom face of thepick swing cam plate 138, and the rear section of the swinging cam 138-1is formed straight in an anterior-posterior direction while the frontsection of same is in the form of an arc. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 6through 8, when the pick swing cam plate 138 moves backward (directionof A), the pick swing arm 131 rotates clockwise. It should be notedthat, in accordance with such rotation of the pick swing arm 131, thetwo-stage roller 131-3 attached to the front part of the pick swing arm131 biases the pick arm 130 so that the pick arm 130 rotatescounterclockwise, while moving inside the connecting cam 130-2 formed onthe pick arm 130.

[5. Drive Chassis (FIGS. 13 Through 16)]

As shown in FIGS. 13 through 16, a pin 120-1 which is fixed to the drivechassis 120 is inserted into three dampers 121 disposed on the pick arm130, whereby the drive chassis 120 is elastically supported. Moreover, abarrel-like coil spring 122 is disposed between the drive chassis 120and the pick arm 130 such that the pin 120-1 and the damper 121 areinserted into the coil spring 122, thus the drive chassis 120 iselastically supported double on the pick arm 130 by the coil spring 122and the damper 121. Then, a pair of the damper 121 and the coil spring122 are disposed on a leading end side of the pick arm 130 (right sidein FIG. 16) so as to be positioned away from the turning table 123 whichis described hereinafter.

The drive chassis 120 is provided with a drive unit. This drive unitcomprises members required for playing the disk D, such as the turningtable 123 on which the disk D is mounted, a spindle motor M3 whichrotates the turning table 123, a pick up unit which is not shown butreads a signal of the disk D, a thread motor which moves the pick upunit, a pick up feed mechanism having a feed screw and the like.

[6. Disk Clamping Mechanism (FIGS. 13 Through 18)]

Furthermore, the disk clamping mechanism for installing the disk D onthe turning table 123 is disposed on the drive chassis 120 in the mannerdescribed hereinbelow. First, there are provided the clamper 125 whichpresses the disk D on the tuning table 123, and the clamp arm 124 towhich the clamper 125 is attached so as to be able to rotateconcentrically with the turning table 123.

A pin 124-1, which is formed on a vertical face on each side of a rearsection of the clamp arm 124, is inserted into a vertical groove 120-2which is formed on a vertical face on each side of the drive chassis120, whereby the clamp arm 124 is provided movably in a verticaldirection. A rear end of a substantially T-shaped biasing plate 124-2shown in FIG. 18 is attached on the left side of the clamp arm 124 so asto be rotatable around the pin 124-1 as an axis. A pin 124-3, which isprovided on a front end of the biasing plate 124-2, is inserted into agroove 120-3 which is formed on the left vertical face of the drivechassis 120 so as to be in parallel with the groove 120-2.

The pin 124-1 moves along the grooves 120-2, 3, whereby the clamp arm124 moves up and down in parallel with the drive chassis 120, but thisup-and-down movement is controlled by sliding movement of a clamp plate127 which is provided in the drive chassis 120. The sliding movement ofthe clamp plate 127 is performed by the control plate 136. Specifically,the control plate 127 is provided with a groove 127-3 which is engagedwith a pin 136-3 provided on the control plate 136, the pin 136-3 beingdescribed hereinafter, thus the clamp plate 127 is configured so as tobe able to slidingly move in accordance with rotation of the controlplate 136.

On vertical faces on both side of the clamp plate 127, there is formedan inclined cam 127-1 inserted into the pin 124-1 of the clamp arm 124,and on the vertical face on the left side there is formed a inclined cam127-2 into which the pin 124-3 of the biasing plate 124-2 is inserted.Therefore, when the clamp plate 127 slidingly moves, the inclined cams127-1, 127-2 bias the pins 124-1, 124-3 upward or downward, whereby theclamp arm 124 moves up and down. It should be noted that, as shown inFIGS. 13 through 15, a spring 500, which holds the clamp arm 124 in astate in which the disk is pressure-bonded, is disposed between a frontend of the clamp plate 127 and the drive chassis 120.

Further, as shown in FIG. 17, a torsion spring 128 is disposed on a rearsection of the clamp arm 124. One end of the torsion spring 128 isinserted into a hole 124-5 which is formed on the vertical face on theright side of the clamp arm 124, and the other end of the torsion spring128 is locked with a rear end of the clamp arm 124. An upper end of thebiasing plate 124-2 is in contact with the vicinity of the hole 124-5 ofthe clamp arm 124, and one end of the torsion spring 128 abuts on thisupper end, as shown in FIG. 18. Therefore, when the pin 124-3 is biaseddownward by the inclined cam 127-2, the biasing plate 124-2 rotatesaround the pin 124-1 as an axis, and the upper end of the biasing plate124-2 biases one end of the torsion spring 128 forward.

It should be noted that both ends of the torsion spring 128 abut on theclamp arm 124 at normal times, and the biasing force does not act.However, as described above, when one end of the torsion spring 128 isbiased forward by the upper end of the biasing plate 124-2, the torsionspring 128 biases the rear end of the clamp arm 124 so as to rotateclockwise around the pin 124-1 shown in FIG. 17B as a bearing, thus theclamp arm 124 rotates so that the damper 125 is pressure-bonded to theturning table 123.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 13C, a lifting section 138-2 abuts on theleft end of the clamp arm 124 in accordance with sliding movement of thepick swing cam plate 138, whereby the lifted section 124-6 which isbiased so that the clamp arm 124 is rotates upward. It should be notedthat a light spring 120-6 is attached between the clamp arm 124 and thedrive chassis 120, whereby the clamp arm 124 is biased downward.However, when the disk passes through, i.e. when the disk is inserted orejected, the clamp arm 124 is pushed upward by the lifting section138-2, and a required space is secured between the damper 125 and theturning table 123 so that the disk D passes therethrough.

[7. Floating Lock Mechanism (FIGS. 19, 20)]

Next, the floating lock mechanism is configured by the following membersoperated by the control plate 136 which is pivotally supported so as tobe rotatable around the pick arm 130. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 19,floating lock plates 132, 133 slidably provided on the pick arm 130.These floating lock plates 133, 132 are connected to each other via alink arm 135 provided rotatably on the pick arm 130 so as to be able toslidingly move in directions opposite to each other. As shown in FIG.20, on end sections which are opposite to each other in the floatinglock plates 132, 133, there are formed lock holes 132-1, 133-1 forswitching between a lock state and a floating state of the drive chassis120 by being detachable with respect to lock nibs 120-4, 5 formed atfront and back of the drive chassis 120.

Moreover, the floating lock plate 132 is biased in a direction in whichthe lock nib 120-5 is engaged with the lock hole 132-1 (lockingdirection), by a spring 432 (the biasing member described in the claims)provided between the floating lock plate 132 and the pick arm 130.Accordingly, the floating lock plate 133, which is connected to thefloating lock plate 132 via the link arm 135, is also biased in adirection in which the lock nib 120-4 is engaged with the lock hole133-1 (locking direction). Therefore, at the time of locking, side facesof the drive chassis 120 which are opposite to each other are sandwichedby the floating lock plates 132, 133.

Cam grooves 136-1, 136-2 are formed on the control plate 136 providedrotatably between the floating lock plates 132, 133. The cam groove136-1 is engaged with the two-stage roller 131-3 in accordance withrotation of the pick swing arm 131 (see FIG. 6). The cam groove 136-2 isengaged with a pin 133-2 provided on the floating lock plate 133 inaccordance with rotation of the control plate 136, and biases thefloating lock plate 133 in a direction opposite to the lockingdirections (floating direction). When the floating lock plate 133 isbiased in the floating direction in this manner, the floating lock plate132 to which the floating lock plate 133 is connected via the link arm135 also moves to the direction opposite to the locking direction(floating direction). It should be noted that the locking direction andthe floating direction are opposite to each other in the floating lockplate 133 and the floating lock plate 133.

[8. Tray (FIGS. 1, 2)]

Various known technologies can be applied to the trays 250 in which thedisks D are housed and which are split when playing a disk D. Forexample, it is considered that the trays 250 can be provided as arc-likeplates which are stacked on the pick chassis 110 and capable of movingup and down, a rotating drum cam 210 is disposed upright a shown in FIG.1 and FIG. 2, and nib sections which are provided on an edge of the tray250 are inserted in a step-like groove formed on the periphery of thedrum cam 210, whereby the tray 250 moves up and down in accordance withthe rotation of the drum cam 210.

[9. Drive Mechanism]

The abovementioned pick swing cam plate 138 and constitutes a drivemechanism for rotating the pick swing arm 131 and the pick arm 130 inaccordance with the sliding movement thereof and consecutively operatingthe disk clamping mechanism and the floating lock mechanism. As thedrive mechanism, various known technologies can be applied. For example,as shown in FIG. 21, the following configuration is considered in whichthe pick swing cam plate 138 is slidingly moved by a combination of amotor Ml, speed reduction mechanism, spur gears 111-1, 111-2, circularcam plate 104, link plate 119, and slide plate 137. Specifically, themotor Ml as a driving source is attached to a left side corner at theback of the chassis 101. The rotary drive power of the motor M1 istransmitted to the spur gears 111-1, 111-2 attached rotatably onto thechassis 101, via the speed reduction mechanism.

Further, the circular cam plate 104, outer periphery of which is formedwith a gear groove, is attached to the bottom face of the chassis 101 soas to be able to rotate around the axis 104-1. A swing drive cam 104-2,which is a groove or a hole engaged with a roller 119-2 of the linkplate 119, is formed on the circular cam plate 104, the roller 119-2being described hereinafter. This link arm 119 is attached to an upperpart of the bottom face of the chassis 101 so as to be rotatable aroundan axis 119-1. One end of the link arm 119 is provided with the roller119-2 rotatably, and the other end is integrated with a pin 119-3. Theroller 119-2 is inserted into the swing drive mechanism 104-2.

The slide plate 137 is provided on the left side face of the chassis 101so as to be able to slidingly move back and forth. The pin 119-3 of thelink arm 119 is connected to a connection hole 137-1 provided on theslide plate 137, so as to be able to rotate and move right and left. Asshown in FIG. 22, the left side face of the slide plate 137 is providedwith an abutting section 137-2 which is caused to stand vertically. Thisabutting section 137-2 abuts on the pick swing cam plate 138.

The swing drive cam 104-2 which is provided on the circular cam plate104 is in the form of a continuous meander groove, and the roller 119-2engaged therewith changes the distance to the axis 104-4 in accordancewith rotation of the circular cam plate 104, whereby the link arm 119and a ring gear 105 are biased. Therefore, when the drive power of themotor M1 is transmitted to the circular cam plate 104 via the speedreduction mechanism and the spur gears 111-1, 111-2, the circular camplate 104 rotates, at the same time the swing drive cam 104-2 moves, andaccordingly the roller 119-2 is biased, whereby the link arm 119rotates.

Then, the slide plate 137 slidingly moves due to the rotation of thelink plate 119, thus up-and-down movement of the pick swing cam plate138 contacting with the abutting section 137 is permitted and the pickswing cam plate 138 slidingly moves back and forth. It should be notedthat the motor M1 is controlled by a microcomputer which is operated bya predetermined program, in response to an input signal from inputtingmeans of operation buttons and the like.

[C. Action]

Regarding the above-described operation of the present embodiment, theoverview of the operation of the disk device is described first and thenan operation of swinging and inserting the pick arm, a disk clampingoperation, a floating lock cancellation operation, an operation forreleasing the disk, floating lock operation, and an operation ofswinging out the pick arm, are described.

[1. Overview of Operation]

First, the overview of the operation of the disk device is describedwith reference to FIG. 23 and FIG. 24. It should be noted that 401 inthe figures is a loading roller 401 having a general disk device.Specifically, as shown in FIG. 23A, the disk D, which is inserted fromthe disk insertion opening 101-7, is pulled in by the loading roller401, passes through between the clamper 125 and the turning table 123 asshown in FIG. 24B, and is then housed in an upper part of each tray 250.When playing the disk D, trays 250 above and below the tray 250 hosing adesired disk D therein are split and caused to withdraw, as shown inFIG. 24A. The drive chassis 120 is swung and caused to enter a spacecreated by causing the trays 250 to withdraw by rotating the pick arm130, so that the desired disk D enters between the tuning table 123 andthe clamper 125.

Then, as shown in FIG. 24B, the clamp arm 124 is lifted down whereby thedisk D is sandwiched between the turning table 123 and the damper 125.Moreover, the disk D is rotated on the turning table 123 by a spindlemotor to read the information of the disk D by means of an opticalpickup moved by a feed mechanism.

[2. Swinging the Pick Arm]

When swinging the pick arm 130, first the trays 250 above and below theselected tray 250 are split and caused to withdraw. The ring gear 105 isrotated by the circular cam plate 104 which is rotated by an operationof the motor Ml, and the slide plate 137 is slidingly moved backward (Adirection in FIG. 22), whereby the pick swing cam plate 138 is slidinglymoved backward (A direction in FIG. 6).

Consequently, as shown in FIG. 7, the roller 131-2 is biased by theswing cam 138-1 provided on the pick swing cam plate 138, and the pickswing arm 131 rotates clockwise. The two-stage roller 131-3 of the pickswing arm 131 moves along the connecting cam 130-2 of the pick arm 130,thus the pick arm 130 rotates counterclockwise. The rotation of the pickarm 130 is facilitated and stabilized by the functions of the pick armspacer 221 and the plate spring 116. The hook 130-5 at the leading endof the pick arm 130 rotating in this manner is inserted into and held bythe holding section 129, and then reaches the rotation end, as shown inFIG. 2. At this moment, the damper 125 and the turning table 123 arebrought to the top and bottom of the disk D which is the object ofselection.

[3. Disk Clamping]

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 8, when the pick swing cam plate 138slidingly moves backward and the pick swing arm 131 rotates clockwise,the two-stage roller 131-3 of the pick swing arm 131 moves along theconnecting cam 130-2. Consequently, the two-stage roller 131-3 isengaged with the cam groove 136-1 of the control plate 136, thus thecontrol plate 136 starts rotating counterclockwise.

As shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B, the groove 127-3 of the clamp plate 127is engaged with the pin 136-3 of the control plate 136. Therefore, theclamp plate 127 starts moving slidingly to the right in the figures inaccordance with rotation of the control plate 136. Consequently, asshown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the pin 124-1 of the clamp arm 124 is biaseddownward by the inclined cam 127-1 of the clamp plate 127, thus theclamp arm 124 moves downward in a vertical direction and the clamper 125holds the inner diameter of the disk D between the clamper 125 and theturning table 123. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 15, when the control plate136 rotates counterclockwise, the pin 136-3 is removed from the camgroove 127-3 of the clamp plate 127.

In this manner, when the pin 124-3 of the biasing plate 124-2 is biaseddownward by the movement of the inclined cam 127-2, the upper end of thebiasing plate 124-2 biases an end of the torsion sprig 128 forward.Since the torsion spring 128 is attached to the clamp arm 124 asdescribed above, the torsion spring 128 is biased so as to rotateclockwise around the pin 124-1 which acts as a spindle. The clamp arm124, which was disposed in a horizontal state, lightly rotates in adirection in which the clamper 125 pressure-bonds the disk D to theturning table 123, and the pressure is applied to the clamper 125 fromthe torsion spring 128. It should be noted that the clamp plate 127 isheld by the spring 500 in the direction of pressure-bonding the disk,thus the direction is prevented from being reversed in a floating state,which is described hereinafter.

[4. Floating Lock Cancellation]

Subsequently to the above-described disk clamping operation,cancellation of floating lock is performed. Specifically, as shown inFIG. 8, when the pick swing arm 131 and the control plate 136 arerotated by the sliding movement of the pick swing cam plate 138, the pin133-2 of the floating lock plate 133 is brought into engagement with thecam groove 136-2 of the control plate 136, and the floating lock plate133 slidingly moves to in a floating direction.

On the other hand, the floating lock plate 132, which is connected tothe floating lock plate 133 via the link arm 135, also slidingly movesin the floating direction. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 19B and FIG.20B, the lock nibs 120-4, 5 of the drive chassis 120 are released by thelock holes 133-1, 132-1, thus, as shown in FIG. 16B, the drive chassis120 enters the floating state in which the drive chassis 120 issupported only by the damper 121 and the coil spring 122.

[5. Playing the Disk]

When the disk D, which is pressure-bonded onto the turning table 123 asdescribed above, is released by the tray 250 moving downward, the tray250 holding the disk D, the disk D is rotated by the spindle motor M3and the pick up unit is scanned by the feed mechanism, whereby theinformation recorded on the disk D is read. After completion of playingthe disk, when the disk D is brought back to the tray 250, an operation,which is the reverse of the abovementioned operations, is carried out,whereby the disk D is brought to the floating lock state and releasedfrom the turning table 123, and the pick arm 130 is swung out frombetween the trays 250. The procedure of this operation is as follows.

[6. Floating Lock and Release of the Disk]

After completion of playing the disk, when the tray 250 moves upward tohold the disk D and the pick swing cam plate 138 is slidingly movedforward (direction opposite to A direction in the figure) by theoperation of the motor Ml as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 7, the roller131-2 is biased by the swinging cam 138-1, and the pick swing arm 131rotates counterclockwise. The two-stage roller 131-3 of the pick swingarm 131 moves along the connecting cam 130-2 of the pick arm 130.Therefore, the control plate 136 in which the two-stage roller 131-3 isengaged with the cam groove 136-1 rotates clockwise.

In accordance with the rotation of the control plate 136, the pin 133-2which is engaged with the cam groove 136-2 is biased and the floatinglock plate 132 slidingly moves in a lock direction. Further, thefloating lock plate 132, which is connected to the floating lock plate133 via a link arm 139, also slidingly moves in the lock direction.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 19A and FIG. 20A, the lock holes 133-1,132-1 are engaged with the lock nibs 120-4, 5 of the drive chassis 120respectively, whereby, as shown in FIG. 16A, the damper 121 and the coilspring 122 are compressed and the drive chassis 120 enters the lockstate in which the drive chassis 120 is fixed on the pick chassis 110.Then, when the control plate 136 further rotates, the pin 133-2 of thefloating lock plate 133 is removed from the cam groove 136-2, as shownin FIG. 7. At this moment, since the bias force of the spring 432 isadded, the floating lock plates 132, 133 are prevented from beingunstable.

Further, as shown in FIG. 14, since the pin 136-3 of the control plate136 is engaged with the groove 127-3 of the clamp plate 127 inaccordance with the rotation of the control plate 136, the clamp plate127 starts to slidingly move (to the left in FIG. 14), and the pin 124-3is biased by the inclined cam 127-2. Accordingly, the biasing plate124-2 rotates and an upper end thereof separates from one end of thetorsion spring 128, thus the biasing plate 124-2 and the clamp arm 124are integrated. At this moment, the inclined cam 127-1 also biases thepin 124-1 of the clamp arm 124 upward, thus the clamp arm 124 moves upin the vertical direction. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13B, the clamper125 releases the inner diameter of the disk D. It should be noted thatthe released disk D is held on the tray 250 side.

[7. Swinging and Ejecting the Pick Arm]

Moreover, when the pick swing cam plate 138 slidingly moves forward andthe pick swing arm 131 rotates counterclockwise, the two-stage roller131-3 of the pick swing arm 131 moves along the connecting cam 130-2 ofthe pick arm 130 and the pick arm 130 starts rotating clockwise.Accordingly, the hook 130-5 at the leading end of the pick arm 130 isremoved from the holding section 129, and the clamper 125 and theturning table 123, which already released the top and bottom of the diskD as described above, move in a direction in which the pick arm 130 isswung out of the trays 250 while the pick arm 130 rotates, and return tothe initial state and then are stopped.

In the case of keep the played disk D housed, the trays 250 move in adirection in which they become close to each other, and then return tothe housing state. In the case of ejecting the disk D, the pick chassis110 moves downward to the lowest section and stands by, and the selecteddisk D is positioned at the disk insertion opening 101-7 provided on thefront face of the chassis 101, by a group of trays 250 being moved upand down by the rotation of the drum cam 210 (see FIG. 5), and the diskD is ejected from the tray 250 by the loading roller 401. It should benoted that, when the disk D is inserted/ejected, the pick swing camplate 138 moves, whereby, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 13C, the liftingsection 138-2 thereof lifts up the lifted section 124-6 of the clamp arm124, and a required clearance is secured between the clamper 125 and theturning table 123.

[D. Effect]

According to the present embodiment described above, an operation ofswinging the swing arm 130 performed by the drive mechanism includingthe pick swing cam plate 138, an operation of disk clamping by means ofthe up-and-down movement of the clamp arm 124, and an operation offloating lock cancellation performed by the movement of the floatinglock plates 132, 133 can be sequentially performed, and also theoperations in the opposite pattern can be continuously and smoothlycarried out by the single control plate 136, thus the configuration ofthe device can be made extremely simple.

Particularly, after the operation of swinging the pick swing arm 131 iscompleted, the connecting cam 130-2 biases the control plate 136, andbefore the operation of swinging the pick swing arm 131 is performed,the bias to the control plate 136 is canceled, thus erroneous operation,such as lock cancellation before swinging-in and unlocking afterswinging-out, can be securely prevented from occurring. Further, thecontrol plate 136 rotates and thereby operates the disk clampingmechanism and the floating lock mechanism, thus the continuous operationcan be realized with a small space required.

The floating plates 132, 133, which are biased by the control plate 136,are also a pair of plates which slidingly move and thereby shift betweenthe lock state and the floating state, thus locking and lockcancellation ca be securely realized with the simple mechanism.Particularly, since the floating lock plates 132, 133 are connected toeach other via the link arm 139, one of them can be driven by drivingthe other one. Therefore, the floating lock plates 132, 133 are suitableto be driven by the single control plate 136. Moreover, since thefloating lock plates 132, 133 are biased to the lock position by thespring 432, the floating lock plates 132, 133 are prevented from beingunstable at the time of locking.

The clamp plate 127, which is biased by the control plate 136, canslidingly move and thereby shift between the disk clamping state and thedisk releasing state, thus disk clamping can be carried out securelywith the simple mechanism. Further, the hook 130-5 of the swung-in pickarm 130 is held by the held section 129 in the chassis 101, thus it ispossible to realize a disk device in which the drive unit can obtainhigh resistance to vibration. Therefore, a device which is suitable for,for example, an on-board disk device can be configured.

Three points on the drive chassis 120 having the drive unit aresupported by the double structure having a combination of the damper 121and the coil spring 122, thus high vibration absorbency can be obtainedeven if the space on the pick arm 130 is narrow. Particularly, onecombination of damper 121 and coil spring 122 is disposed on theposition separated from the turning table 123 in the drive unit (leadingend side of the pick arm 130), thus the narrow space can be utilizedeffectively to realize a stable support. Furthermore, since the coilspring 122 is in the form of a barrel as shown in FIG. 16, it can bestretched widely in not only the vertical direction but also in thehorizontal direction, thus the vibration absorbency further improves.

In addition, the pick arm spacer 221 for facilitating the rotation ofthe pick arm 130, and the plate spring 116 for biasing the pick arm 130to the pick chassis 110 side are provided in the vicinity of the axis130-1 of the pick arm 130, whereby a stable rotation with no blurringcan be realized without requiring a long axis, thus the floating lockdevice with a reduced-size and simple structure requiring a small spacecan be obtained. Particularly, pressure for biasing the pick arm 130 tothe pick chassis 110 can be made even by the circular plate spring 116,thus more stable rotation can be realized. Further, the pick arm 130 canbe driven by the pick swing arm 131 rotating in parallel with the pickarm 130, thus the rotation can be further stabilized, and the space inthe height direction can be prevented from being enlarged.

E. Other Embodiment]

The present invention is not limited to the abovementioned embodiment.For example, the mechanism for moving the tray up and down, the drivemechanism for rotating the pick arm, the floating lock mechanism, thedisk clamping mechanism, and the like are not limited to the onesdescribed in the above embodiment. Furthermore, the configurations ofthe floating lock mechanism and the disk clamping mechanism are notlimited to the examples described in the above embodiment as long asthey can be driven by the control plate which is the transmittingmember.

Moreover, each member, the number of members, positions for disposingthe members, intervals between the members, distance between theoperating members and the like are also arbitrary. For example, thespring for biasing the pair of floating lock plates may be provided soas to bias either one of the pair or both. Various known materials, suchas rubber or other resin, and a material for sealing viscous fluid bymeans of the resin, can be applied as the damper which is used as theelastic member. The shape of the coil spring is not always limited to abarrel. The supported locations on the elastic member may be more thanthree. In addition, elastic members at two or more locations may beseparated from the drive unit.

Also, as the spacer, various known materials apply as long as it canrealize facilitation of rotation of the pick arm, thus the shape of thespacer is not limited to the example described in the above embodiment.Further, by configuring the entire or part of the pick arm with a memberhaving a smooth surface, the structure of the pick arm can be obtainedby integrating the spacer and the pick arm. The shape of the platespring also is not limited to the example described in the aboveembodiment, thus the material is arbitrary.

Although the present invention is suitable for a disk device handling aCD, DVD, or the like, the present invention is not limited to thisdevice, and thus can be applied widely to a flat recording medium. Inaddition, although the present invention is suitable for an on-boarddisk device since it is resistant to vibration, the present invention isnot limited to this device, and thus can be applied to various diskdevices of stand-alone type, portable type, and the like.

1. A floating lock device, comprising: a swing arm which can be swunginto and swung out of a space created by splitting disk housing sectionscapable of housing a plurality of disks; a drive chassis which ismounted on the swing arm and which comprises a drive unit playing thedisk; and a floating lock mechanism which is provided on the swing armand switches between a floating state in which the drive chassis issupported by an elastic member only, and a lock state in which the drivechassis is fixed to the swing arm, wherein the floating lock devicefurther comprises a drive mechanism which drives the swing arm, and theswing arm is provided with a transmitting member which transmits drivepower of the drive mechanism to the floating lock mechanism so as tocontinuously perform shifting from an operation of swinging-in the swingarm to one operation of the floating lock mechanism or from an operationof swinging-out the swing arm to the other operation of the floatinglock mechanism.
 2. The floating lock device according to claim 1,wherein the drive mechanism has an auxiliary arm which rotates andthereby biases the swing arm in a swing-in direction and a swing-outdirection, the transmitting member is provided rotatably by being biasedby an end section of the auxiliary arm, and the swing arm is providedwith a connecting cam which causes the auxiliary arm to bias thetransmitting member during a period between time after the swing arm isswung-in and time before the swing arm is swung out.
 3. The floatinglock device according to claim 1, wherein the floating lock mechanismhas a pair of floating lock plates which are provided so as to be ableto slidingly move between a lock position for engaging with the drivechassis and a floating position for separating from the drive chassis,in accordance with displacement of the transmitting member, the pair offloating lock plates being provided so as to be able to slidingly movein directions opposite to each other by means of a link arm providedrotatably on the swing arm.
 4. The floating lock device according toclaim 1, wherein the swing arm is provided with a biasing member whichbiases at least one of the pair of floating lock plates to the lockposition.
 5. The floating lock device according to claim 1, wherein thedrive unit has a turning table on which a disk is mounted, and a diskclamping mechanism which holds the disk between the disk clamp mechanismand the turning table, and the swing arm is provided with a transmittingmember which transmits drive power of the drive mechanism to the diskclamping mechanism so as to continuously perform shifting from anoperation of swinging-in the swing arm to one operation of the floatinglock mechanism and disk clamping mechanism or from an operation ofswinging-out the swing arm to the other operation of the floating lockmechanism and disk clamping mechanism.
 6. The floating lock deviceaccording to claim 5, wherein the drive mechanism has an auxiliary armwhich rotates and thereby biases the swing arm in a swing-in directionand a swing-out direction, and the transmitting member is providedrotatably by being biased by an end section of the auxiliary arm.
 7. Thefloating lock device according to claim 5, wherein the floating lockmechanism has a floating lock plate which is provided so as to be ableto slidingly move between a lock position for reducing the height of theelastic member by biasing the drive chassis to the swing arm side, and afloating position for recovering the height of the elastic member bycanceling the bias on the drive chassis, in accordance with displacementof the transmitting member.
 8. The floating lock device according toclaim 5, wherein the disk clamping mechanism comprises: a damper whichholds a disk between the damper and the turning table; a clamp arm towhich the damper is attached and which is provided so as to be able tomove up and down; and a clamp plate which is provided so as to beslidingly moved by the transmitting member and, in accordance with thesliding movement, biases the clamp arm in a direction of moving theclamp arm up and down.
 9. The floating lock device according to claim 5,provided in a chassis, the chassis being provided with a holding sectionwhich holds an end section of the swing arm which is swung-in.
 10. Thefloating lock device according to claim 1, wherein the elastic membercomprises a combination of a damper and a coil spring, and at leastthree locations on the drive chassis are supported on the swing arm bythe elastic member.
 11. The floating lock device according to claim 10,wherein the elastic member on at least one location is disposed on aposition which is farther away from the drive unit than other elasticmembers.
 12. The floating lock device according to claim 10, wherein thecoil spring is in the form of a barrel.
 13. The floating lock deviceaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a supporting body whichsupports the swing arm rotatably around an axis; and biasing means forbiasing the swing arm to the supporting body in the vicinity of theaxis, wherein a spacer for facilitating rotation of the swing arm issandwiched between the swing arm and the supporting body in the vicinityof the axis.
 14. The floating lock device according to claim 13, whereinthe biasing means is a circular plate spring.
 15. The floating lockdevice according to claim 13, wherein the drive mechanism is provided onthe supporting body so as to be able to rotate in parallel with theswing arm, and has an auxiliary arm which biases the swing arm in aswing-in direction and a swing-out direction in accordance with rotationof the drive mechanism.